Despertando Diego Pinera

• 1Osvaldo Por Nueve04:07
• 2Caravan03:32
• 3Despertando04:32
• 4Yakarito Terere05:05
• 5St. Thomas03:53
• 6Last Tango in Paris03:12
• 7La Comparsa03:37
• 8Vulnerability04:41
• 9A Puerto Padre04:02
• 10Duerme Negrito04:48
• 11Once Pasos03:21
• Total Runtime44:50

Info for Despertando

It was the awakening (Despertando) of a tinge of longing which inspired Diego Pinera to record this album. More than seventeen years after having left his native Uruguay, he re-visits his roots, the influences which first left their mark on him, and the legacy which made him the musician he is today.

It was the awakening (Despertando) of a tinge of longing which inspired Diego Pinera to record this album. More than seventeen years after having left his native Uruguay, he re-visits his roots, the influences which first left their mark on him, and the legacy which made him the musician he is today.

His choice of compositions is highly personal: tunes by Gato Barbieri and Ernesto Lecuona are clear cultural references to Argentina and Cuba (Pinera also studied in Havana). His own composition “Osvaldo por Nueve” is a homage to his first teacher and mentor Osvaldo Fattoruso. It is also Pinera’s modern take on the ‘candombe’ folklore tradition, popular in Uruguay. The track “Yakarito Terere” is personal too: a composition by his father, inspired by a memory from childhood, of regular excursions into the hinterland of Montevideo.

Pinera’s encounters with Latin American music, and with jazz in all its breadth, have led him to develop an unmistakable style which serves as the artistic filter for “Despertando”: through the combination of his advanced conception of rhythm, a jazz sound with a Latin touch, and the freedom of improvisation, this album becomes a portrait of the artist in full, and one in which his strong character comes across vividly.

Pinera’s fellow musicians also inhabit this field of creative tension. Each of them has a very different musical background, and together they combine to make a concept of jazz which is stylistically open, deeply marked by their origins, and coloured by Latin American music.

This unusual chemistry between the musicians - and also their extraordinary talent – keep the music fresh and airy; there is musical complexity and virtuosity in abundance, but it is imbued with great subtlety.

“Despertando” avoids all temptation to wallow in nostalgia. What Pinera has achieved is to re-invent the place he dreams about, to awaken Latin jazz in a way which is deep-rootedly his own, and is able to stand on its own terms. Far removed from folklore, cliché and superficiality, this is not a reversion to the past, but to the present.

Diego Pinera, drums, percussion & steel drum
Tino Derado, piano & accordion
Omar Rodriguez Calvo, bass
Daniel Manrique-Smith, flutes
Julian Wasserfuhr, trumpet & flugelhorn

Recorded April 24 & 25, 2017 by Klaus Scheuermann at Hansa Studios Berlin
Mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann
Produced by Siggi Loch

Diego Pinera
The drummer Diego Pinera grew up in Montevideo (Uruguay) and has now been living in Germany for several years. He studied drumming at the Berklee College of Music (USA), at the University of Music in Havana (Cuba) and at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig. He received lessons from Danilo Perez, Bob Moses, Jose Luis Quintana ‘Changuito’, and Kenwood Denard.

Back in Uruguay he founded the Diego Pinera Trio and recorded the CD Buscando with the Perro Andaluz label. He eventually returned to Germany, where he founded the Berlin Quartett and recorded Reflexiones feat. Tony Lakatos. In 2014 the Jazz Thing Next Generation Series Strange Ways followed. Pinera recorded his current album My Picture with Mark Turner and Ben Street in 2015 in New York. In May 2016 he played the cd.real.tour with Donny McCaslin and Phil Donkin. As ‘Sideman’ he played with musicians such as Donny McCaslin, Jerry Bergonzi, Danilo Perez, Hans Glawischnig, Dan Tepfer, Alex Sipiagin, Miguel Zenon, Wilson de Oliveira, Tony Lakatos, Nene Vazquez, Joe Gallardo, Katja Riemann, Nils Wogram and Paul Brody.

With his quartet (with Peter Ehwald, Tino Derado and Phil Donkin) he achieved in his compositions a new, unusual approach to Latin Jazz. Sometimes this approaches Pop and Modern Jazz, sometimes he concentrates on the original, multilayered rhythms of this improvisational music. Pinera’s playing is nonetheless always grounded in the Latin American musical tradition. Diego Pinera was nominated in 2015 for the ECHO Music Prize in the category ‘Best Instrumentalist of the Year’.

Festival Appearances North Sea Festival, Jazzfestival ‘Garana Jazz Festival’ Romania, BLUE NOTE Milano, Riga Ritmi Jazzfestival, Dresdener Drumfestival, Jazzfestival ‘Jazztour’, Festival International Naganagua Venezuela, Bogota Jazzfestival im Teatro Libre, Guangdong Jazzfestival China, Jazzfestival Lima Peru, Malta Jazzfestival.

Booklet for Despertando